The Tenth Muse
by SupernovaDancer
Summary: She didn't know it when she was still in the middle of it, but that night would change her life...Contains Greeks, gymnastics, and growing up.
1. Prologue

The Tenth Muse

She didn't know it when she was still in the middle of it, but that night would change her life.

As she scooped brown pellets of fishy-smelling cat food into a striped white plastic bowl, she thought of nothing more important or specific than whether her homework was done – it was. Her thoughts drifted here and there, and she had yet to make any concrete conclusions or observations. Hands on autopilot, she finished feeding her pets without a thought to her actions, then walked barefoot up the stairs of the basement where the cats spent most of their time, toes curling against the cold floor. Her blue plaid pajama pants brushed pleasingly against her legs as she made her way upstairs, and she hummed a long-forgotten lullaby. Had her mother sung that to her once? Never mind, then.

She tied her silky, straight, dark brown hair into a messy braid, brushed her braces-covered teeth, and washed her face with a minty-smelling soap. Accidentally splashing water on her black vest top and all over the bathroom floor, she spent the next two minutes mopping up, scowling fiercely all the while.

Her younger sister came up to her, eyes wide. "Good night!" she proclaimed, and strained upward to deliver her good night kiss. The older girl turned and walked away.

She slid beneath her blue bedspread, after turning out the lights and turning on the fan. She closed her eyes.

What a nice day, she thought. Well…actually…what had happened to make it nice? Nothing, really. Hm.

What had happened, period? Well, she had…err…breakfast?

After a moment, she decided not to answer that one.

On the verge of sleep, about to drift off, she snuggled in closer to her pillow, letting out a soft sigh of contentment.

A moment later, she jolted awake, and shot out of bed, gasping and flailing, tangled in her sheets, at the strange noise that filled her bedroom.

"Bloody hell…" she murmured, eyes wide.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry, it's kind of short, but it couldn't very well be any longer. I mean, there isn't a plot yet, and otherwise, not too much to say. Plot comes later, as soon as I remember what it was supposed to be. Next chapter coming soon, in which we meet the Doctor and talk for a ridiculously long time. This is my first story (sort of – I've written others, but this is the first I've posted) and it's not one of the ones I'm most happy with…but I like it anyway…of course, I would…I'm going to shut up now.


	2. This isn't Greece

This isn't Greece

What? What? No!

No, no, no, no, no! And another no for good measure!

This was not ancient Greece. This was not where he needed to be. This was…he squinted at the monitor. Some girl's bedroom? Oh, no. No. She's probably chatty; this is going to be a huge waste of time. Oh, he might get slapped!

"Right, better get this over with" he muttered to himself. "She's probably not going to accept this as a random dream if I just disappear again, and I'm hoping, for the sake of my driving, that this is somewhere I need to be, because if it's just a pointless pit stop, I really have stuff to get back to."

After a contemplative look into the air, he noted "I'm talking to myself."

"I really need to get her back."

Oh, my god. It's blue. Very blue. And…boxy. And in my bedroom. What is it doing in my bedroom? Is this a trick? It's probably just a hologram. I should touch it. I'm going to touch it. Should I touch it? It's just a box, it can't hurt me. Pandora's box. Okay, boxes can hurt people, but it's not tempting or anything, so I should be fine, right? I'm going to touch it.

She tried to get up, but she was tangled in her sheets, and she fell back with a thump. Right then, she thought, let's get them off.

Right then, let's meet this girl, explain materializing blue box, dematerialize said blue box, and get back to what I really need to be doing.

He opened the door, stepping out onto creamy-colored carpet. He was greeted with the sight of a dark-haired girl thrashing about on the floor, thoroughly entangled in light blue sheets. This was…amusing. She banged her head, pretty hard, against the side of her bed. She stilled, with an annoyed cry of "Owwwww…"

Head throbbing, I looked up to see a…man. In my bedroom. Leaning against the side of the blue box, with the door slightly ajar. He was smirking, and looked very amused. Dear god. I think he might have seen that.

"Hello there," he said.

"Um, uh…Hi! Strange, blue box man. In my bedroom. In the middle of the night."

"I suppose I should probably explain that…"

"It would be pretty nice, yeah."

"Too bad, I can't," he delivered with a manic grin, bordering on the frightening in its width and sudden onset.

"What? Yes, you can. You'd better. Or I'll, I'll…" I brandished my pillow menacingly. Sort of. How menacing can a pillow be? Not very. I can't even move…

"Hit me with that pillow?"

"Um, yes." I put on my most menacing face – the only bit of Kung Fu I remember.

"Oh dear," he says.

"I took Kung Fu once! I can…kick you or something!"

"Really? How long did that particular hobby last?"

"Two hours!"

"Well, as terrifying as that is, I still don't have a good explanation. I don't know why I'm here. I didn't come here. I was aiming for Greece. So…bye, now!"

"No, wait."

"Yes, what? I've really got to be going. Now."

"How did you do that?"

"You don't want to know. Takes all the fun out of it, and you wouldn't understand."

"So now I'm stupid?"

"Yes. Goodbye." This, too, was graced with a grin.

"Okay, so you won't tell me how you got here, you can't tell me why you're here, and you've just insulted my intelligence. Can you at least tell me who you are?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"That's nice. Do you make house calls?" she asked sarcastically.

"No…sort of. Not that kind of doctor. I go around time and space in an old phone box, defeating hostile aliens, helping not-so-hostile aliens, and, apparently, materializing in the bedrooms of strange girls. I need to go."

"Oh."

"Exactly. Couldn't have put it better myself. Now, when you wake up in the morning, this was just a dream, okay? And I never really existed. Good? Fantastic! See you around. Goodbye."

"Wait!"

"Again? I'm in a hurry."

"I just hit my head on the side of my bed."

"Ten points for observation, now I've got to be off."

"But it hurt. Rather a lot. And it still hurts. If this were a dream, wouldn't it have been painless? And I'm not strange. You're the strange one."

"I certainly don't know. It's your dream. You can debate that with yourself once you wake up. Now I've really got to go. Yes I am."

"Um…wait a minute."

"Yeah? What. Honestly, you are very slow. I don't have time for this."

"Cool it; you've got a time machine. Apparently."

"I'm dealing with an extremely time sensitive manner here! I can't go swanning off, have adventures with another girl, talk to random people in the middle of the night, and then pop back to rescue my…I guess she's my best friend. That's not how my life works. Even though I've got a time machine, I really have to get to ancient Greece. Now. Bye!"

"Well, this right here, um, this might be time-sensitive too. I…have never seen something like that before."

"We've been over this. Yes, my lovely vintage phone box materializes places. You can deal with it, especially since it'll be gone as soon as you stop calling me back!"

"Um, for now, that's really fine with me. That over there…well…what happens if you die in a dream?"

"You are neither in immediate danger of death, nor are you dreaming. Surprise, I'm real. Hello!"

"I kind of figured. So we'll revise that to, what happens if you die, in general."

"Me or you?"

"Um, me."

"You're dead. Humans…"

"So you're not one, then."

"No. Give the girl a prize. She really is very astute. How many humans have an old phone box that travels through time and space?"

"How many aliens do you think have materialized in my bedroom? How am I supposed to know? You look like a human. And, don't go off on my observation skills, because you still haven't noticed…"

She was interrupted with "I don't look like a human, humans look like me."

"If you're…really an alien, and you…deal with aliens, could you, err, help me deal with…that?"

He finally noticed. "Oh…oh, dear. Why can't I ever just go somewhere for no particular reason?"

"Bingo, mate. Someone finally caught on. And I'm the stupid one."

A/N: Haha, clueless Doctor. Okay, this one is longer. Not as long as I would like it to be, but it sort of has to end there. Otherwise it's going to be three times longer than I would like it to be. If I have made comma or quotation mark mistakes, please let me know. Also, this is supposed to be 9, and if he sounds more like 10, again, please let me know. Plot begins in the next chapter, now that I've got one. In which you will learn the mysterious (not really) girl's name, run through a dark neighborhood, and use a screwdriver to make a phone call.


	3. Chased by a Chimera

A/N: Right, it's been ages. I don't have an excuse at all, actually, as this chapter was already written, and has been since before I posted chapter 2. It's a spectacular sort of laziness that prevents you from even posting a chapter that's already been written. Anyway, enjoy!

Chased by a Chimera

"What's your name?"

"Tyler. Tyler Rose Machaon."

He smiled with an odd sense of déjà vu. "Well, Tyler Rose…run for your life!"

She brought his relived memories to a halt as she said "Um, it's blocking the hallway. And that's the only exit to this room. I don't particularly feel like rushing it, so, um, rethink that plan. Also, I'm still more or less immobile. I don't even know how these sheets did this."

"You're cool under pressure…"

"I can scream and freak out if you want. Would that be helpful? No? Then untie me so we can get the hell away!"

He untangled her, then cried "To the window!"

"What? No, no, no, no!"

"It's the window or the hallway. Your choice."

"Oh, god, I am so going to regret this," she said, making her way over to the window and opening it. She inhaled sharply when the cold November wind touched her skin, still wearing only pajamas. She quickly pulled on a pair of slippers as this man, the Doctor, held a little silver stick that made a queer buzzing noise up to the screen of her window, before pushing it out and jumping.

She stuck her legs out of the window, perched on the sill. "Hurry up!" he called. She sighed. She hated heights. "On the count of three…" she muttered. "One, two…three!" She pushed off of the sill, and slid down the slanted roof descending beneath her windows. "This is sort of fun," she thought. Then the roof ended.

Tyler fell off of the end of the slanted roof, screaming loudly, and fell into his arms. "There we go!" he said, swinging her to the ground. Panting, she said "You're completely insane!" He smiled, and said "Yep!" popping the 'p' cheerily.

"Now come on!" he exclaimed, heading off to the left.

"Um, Doctor?"

"Yes, what now?"

"That way's a dead end. Cul-de-sac. You probably want to come this way."

"Oh. Right then! Off we go!"

Right behind them, the…well, it looked sort of familiar, but she wasn't sure what it was, and she didn't want to ask it. Well, anyway. It jumped out of the window, slid down the roof with an ear-splitting roar, and landed on all fours on the ground. It shook its heads and took off after them. She screamed and upped her pace.

The cold pavement stung her feet through her thin, white, knit slippers. The soles were cheap, the slippers were cheap, and as much as she loved them for wandering about indoors, she quickly discovered that such slippers are not the ideal choice for running away from a…that.

Searing, hot light illuminated her world from behind. Suddenly, it clicked.

Fire-breathing. It breathed fire. Lion head, two heads, goat head! No, three heads, she had missed it, that's why she hadn't thought of it. She checked behind her, and yes, a third head, on its tail. Bingo. Snake head. Lion, goat, snake. Poison, poison and fire and…goat. Bad temper, maybe? Smells? Not important. It was there, and, well, trying to kill her.

"Chimera!" she cried.

"Am not!"

"No! It's a chimera! That thing that's chasing us, or had you forgotten?"

"Oh, that happens every day for me. Care to explain?"

"I thought I was the stupid one."

"You can be stupid or you can be dead, now tell me what you know!"

"Three heads!" she was running out of breath at this point, getting tired. "Lion, goat, snake. Lion and goat are on the front, they breathe fire. Snake at the back, on the tail, it's poisonous. Kind of nasty. Potentially named after a volcano or based off of wi-"

"Blimey, you're the expert."

"Bit of a mythology buff, yeah. Greek mostly, that's what it is, ancient Greek."

"Oh, I knew this was related somehow! This is still a major waste of time, though."

"Thanks. I feel loved."

"I do know it now! It's the snake head, I couldn't see it. It's not an ancient Greek mythological monster, it's an alien, called a…well, a Chimera."

"I told you-"

"This way!" he cut her off, dragging her left onto a side street.

They ran for a few more minutes in silence. Tyler huffed; she hadn't had to run very much at all in the past few years. She had the distinct recollection of being better at it than this, but that wasn't going to help her now. She had to concentrate on breathing. The cold was starting to get to her, the initial adrenaline wearing off and being replaced with fatigue. The Doctor seemed to notice her slacking pace, because he asked "How do you kill a chimera?"

"What?"

"You're not going to outrun it, and as much of a waste of time as you are, I'm not letting you get eaten. You're the expert, how do you kill it?"

"Um, two accounts, that I've read; one: from the back of a flying horse, you shove a lead lance down its throat, suffocating it, and two: from the back of a flying horse, you shoot it with a bow and arrows." She was panting heavily.

"Suffocate it, suffocate it! Have you got a pond or something around here?"

"I don't even know where we are!"

"Don't you live here?"

"Never bothered to learn my way around."

"You're being extremely useless again."

"Sorry!"

"Not my fault if you die!"

"This way!" she said suddenly, turning onto a downwards sloping street.

"What, suddenly remembered where you keep your lakes?"

"Yes!" she cried shortly, running onwards.

After a few more turns onto downhill streets, he caught on.

"You don't actually know where you're going, you're just heading downhill to find water."

"Bingo. Now shut up and run, box man."

"It's the Doctor."

"I remember. Shut up and run, box man."

She almost ran right past it; in the dark, the water looked like a hole, but she skidded to a halt. "There! C'mon!"

She grabbed his had again, dragging him around the pond to the other side. Her heart caught in her throat when, just moments later, the beast rounded the curve. It had been so close behind them! If she hadn't found the pond, it probably would have eaten her. Actually, goats don't really eat meat, so…that's not what she needs to be thinking about. Focus. Focusing is good.

It bounded toward them, and she sincerely hoped that it didn't know how to swim. The flaws in this plan that hadn't been evident earlier were suddenly crowding into her mind; so much so, in fact, that she almost missed the colossal splash the creature made as it fell into the water.

"This is a creature of mythology." The Doctor said from behind her. "How would you neutralize it if you were an ancient hero-" he shushed her as she opened her mouth "without access to a lance or arrows."

"Um, I would think, if this were a myth, that...well, I've put out the fire with the water …if I neutralized the poison it would be a nice little lion-goat-snake hybrid?"

"Good! Yes! Got any water-purification tablets?"

"Oh, of course, because when I'm going to bed, I always make sure I have my water-purification tablets in my pockets! No! It's not going to work, anyway, this is real life! Not magic! Not a myth! You can't warp logic like that! It's not how things work! I don't have any water purification tablets, and you don't have a plan!"

"Okay, um, new plan…"

As he talked, he didn't notice her as she slowly kneeled beside the water, and placed the palms of her hands on the surface. In fact, it wasn't until her forehead was only a few inches from the water, as she bent over, that he broke from his frenetic mumblings to ask her "What are you doing?"

She didn't answer, but placed her forehead on the surface of the water, and hummed lightly. "No, tell me, what are you…" he trailed off as he watched a cloud reminiscent of ink rise slowly from the center of the lake, form a sphere just beneath the surface, and glide slowly over to Tyler's hands. She picked it up gently, then shrieked suddenly and dropped it. It burst like a bubble, leaving no trace of whatever it had been.

"What just happened?" she asked, a note of panic in her voice. "What did I just do?"

"I'm not sure, but you appear to have removed the poison from the chimera."

"Oh. That's…good. How did I do that?" she seemed to be a little angry now.

"I don't know. But look over there"

"The sphere thing…bit me…so angry, so…alone. So much hate. A freak." She was staring at her hand, holding it in the other, with tears forming in her eyes.

"Look!"

The chimera was pulling itself out of the water, looking much different than it had before. The hatred was gone from its eyes, it just looked a little sad, and confused as to its wetness. The snake head no longer had the appearance of an asp, but the markings of a garter snake. The lion head opened its mouth, but instead of the powerful roar they had heard before, it meowed. Like a cat. Tyler couldn't help herself, she started to laugh. The excitement and danger so present a moment before were gone, her strange actions were unimportant, she was alive, and there was a Greek monster mewling like a kitten in her neighborhood. Or maybe the next one over.

"Right, then." Said the Doctor. "Let's get you home, and get me to Greece."

"You can't just leave him here! He's helpless now, and they'll kill him if they find him, even if he isn't hurting anyone!"

"I usually just leave."

"That's going to catch up to you one day! You have to clean up the messes you make!"

"I didn't make a mess. I stopped a chimera!"

"It's still making a mess even if you make it to stop the world from exploding. Now call me a neat freak, but I'm cleaning this up! I need a phone."

"I…here." He handed her the silver stick thing.

"This is a phone?"

"No. Find a pay phone, press the button on the screwdriver, and dial. Should connect you."

"I don't have a screwdriver."

"Yes, you do. That's a sonic screwdriver."

"A sonic screwdriver."

"Yep."

"You're an alien from another world with superior technology and you put your money into a sonic screwdriver?"

"Yes. Do you want to make your call or not?"

She turned away in search of a pay phone.

Luckily, she found one on the corner of the street. She did as he instructed, and, on the second attempt, her call went through.

"999, what is the location of your emergency?"

"Um, corner of…Barnard and Rosedale? Listen, this is going to sound crazy, but there's this…thing…and it's okay, it's not hurting people anymore, but someone needs to come pick it up, like animal control or something. I…it chased this man called the Doctor and I for a good long time, and I know I sound like a nutter right now, but if you could just send someone that would be really great. It's…well, I'm already going to be committed to a mental hospital for this, so I'll just describe it while I'm there…it's sopping wet, one lion head, one goat head, tail of a snake, with a snake's head on. Any questions?"

"Torchwood is on its way, miss."

"Oh. Um…thanks." And the call ended.

Tyler wasn't aware that as soon as she had said "the Doctor," a call had been put through to UNIT, who had referred the operator to Torchwood, the on-duty members of which had jumped into their van at extremely high speed, the leader carrying a jar with a…hand in it?

She walked back to the Doctor, slightly dazed. She handed him his screwdriver, and the Doctor said "How long until the loony bin comes for you, then?"

"Is Torchwood the name of a mental hospital?"

"Not that I know of, no."

"Animal control branch?"

"Nope."

"Okay, well, they're coming, whoever they are."

"Fantastic."

A/N: Yay. I don't live in Britain, so if I got the whole calling emergency services thing wrong, that's why; I've never even done it in America. Next chapter coming soon, in which we shall meet Torchwood, talk again for a somewhat less ridiculously long time, and look for a wardrobe.


	4. Ancient Greece

**A/N: Hello, I'm back! Remember me? Probably not. Anyway, this is Chapter 4 of The Tenth Muse. Which you can probably tell. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Ancient Greece<p>

Tyler grinned when she finally found the wardrobe. She had been thrown against the walls of a few hallways as the time machine flew – does it even fly? Or materialize, sort of? Focus, Tyler – but in the end had arrived in a gigantic room with multiple levels. She wasn't a girly sort of girl in general, but had to let out a gasp and a quiet little squeal in the face of so many clothes. She could have happily spent a day in here, rushing from one area to another, but from the way the Doctor had described the flight method, she didn't think she had that much time before they landed. She saw a hoodie sweatshirt, and a few rows down a pair of go-go boots stuck out of a bin. Even further along, she saw a corset and a hoop skirt.

"Right, then, looks like back in time is that-a-ways," she said to herself, and set off.

When five minutes had elapsed and she still hadn't come to the end of the 1900s, she broke into a trot. Two minutes later, somewhere in the 1750s, she had set off at a run. Obviously the female user of this system wasn't one for shelving things properly – the go-go boots and hoop skirt were frequently used items, perhaps, that didn't get returned to their proper places and got kept near samples of clothing from Tyler's present day. She finally reached Greece, and came to a halt – but only by tripping over a Roman spear. She grinned. "Bingo."

* * *

><p>She reentered the console room with a smile. The Doctor looked up and nodded. "Very nice. Periodically accurate. Altogether adequate."<p>

"You think so? What a glowing review. I'm flattered."

"For an ape."

Tyler looked like she belonged in the Grecian dress. The soft, white material floated about her gently, and the fierce scowl she wore as a customary expression was replaced with a glowing, if temporary, smile. She had pinned her dark hair up in a loose, quick bun near the crown of her head, but a few short strands framed her face. She wore black leather sandals with braided straps tied tightly around her ankles, and from the box she had impulsively grabbed she had removed a silver-colored ring with bending designs of flowers and leaves in intricate miniature that she wore on her thumb. She bounced on her heels anxiously, knowing that outside of the door was ancient Greece.

"All right then! We need to figure out this…Greece revival movement."

"You make it sound like a band."

"Well, I daresay it's a little more than that…"

"Ancient Greece, a _little_ more than a band?"

"No need to get defensive, I'm not saying it's not great and fantastic, for an ape empire."

"For an ape, for an ape. Can you get over yourself and focus? Are the rest of you aliens this pompous?"

They stare at each other briefly, teenager and Time Lord.

She sees what's happening behind his eyes, a thousand combatants in a melee of emotion, steel blue turning black. Quickly, she says "Ancient Greece!"

He nods, jumping back into gear. "Ancient Greece!"

"Can we go see?" she's almost bursting with excitement now, he notes, as he steps forward to hold the door for her.

"Behold, ancient Greece!"

"Oh…"

"What?"

She's quiet, as she steps outside, grey eyes wide, mouth agape. She turns around in a little circle, barely breathing.

"Ancient Greece."

He nods, wondering what, exactly, she's doing.

"Ancient…Greece!" she squeals, and, suddenly, she's exploding into motion. She runs up to him, and jumps up, throwing her arms around his neck. Taken aback, he just stands for a moment, blinking, as stunned as she was only a moment before.

She seems to realize quickly enough what she's doing, and lets go, stepping back quickly. She's blushing now, and looks down at her shoes in an attempt to hide it. She brushes imaginary dirt from her dress, intent upon her task, then clears her throat, looking up.

"Ancient Greece."

He nods, bemused smile on his face. "Can we say something other than ancient Greece now?"

She laughs, and agrees.

They set off through the bustling marketplace, the Doctor walking purposefully ahead, Tyler doing her best to keep up, occasionally skipping or squealing softly.

He loves how excited they always are the first time he takes them somewhere, he loves the expression on their faces and the look in their eyes. With some, the excitement never dies, and those are the ones that become his companions. Like Rose.

All the same, the squealing thing is becoming ridiculously annoying.

She runs over to a stall and begins enthusiastically gushing about a somewhat lackluster brass ring, while the merchant stares at her warily. Not surprising, as she's saying things like "One like this found just last year…"

"Can you calm down? You're being extremely high-pitched."

"What, super special alien hearing can't take it?"

"No."

"Fine."

More walking in silence, and, while he's contemplating the merits of the idea of bringing a person who appears to be almost as strong-willed as him into the TARDIS for what is actually a rather important trip, she's still hung up on the fact that she's actually in ancient Greece. And reminding herself to breathe.

When a suitable awkward silence has settled around them, she, Queen of Unapproachable Prickly Teenagers, realizes that he could potentially not say a word for the rest of this trip. That would be unpleasant.

And as much as she hates to say this, she thinks she might understand where her dad is coming from sometimes.

"So…we're looking for something wrong? Something bad?"

"Yeah."

He offers nothing more. Is that what she's like?

"Something…alien?"

"Maybe, but mostly just something wrong."

"Let's…oh, look!"

She has, in a much less high-pitched way, become almost as excited as she was originally. She grabs his arm and drags him over, to where a man is hawking his wares. A small stand, loaded with woven baskets and wooden containers, pressed up to the side of a building. Despite the fact that his placement is hardly prime, he's drawn quite a crowd, who all seem to be mesmerized.

She watches with rapt attention as the man holds up a tan woven basket, about the size of his fist (which is pretty large – he's a head taller than the tallest man in the crowd) with a black swirling pattern. It doesn't look Greek, she notes, but more…Celtic? But not quite that either. No matter.

The Doctor's checking something on his screwdriver – she's never seen a screwdriver quite like that before, but she suspended her disbelief after she saw a telephone box materialize in her room. And then a chimera showed up. So she's good with it, really.

Something occurs to her that probably should have been evident sooner, but…

"Doctor?"

"Hm?"

"He's speaking Greek, right?"

"Yes."

"I don't speak Greek. I tried, but I can't find a class."

"Yeah, that's the TARDIS, translates inside your head."

"What's so interesting about that screwdriver, anyway? You're just staring at it."

"It's picking up alien readings – things not only out of place but out of time."

"That's us, mate."

"What kind of a scanner would it be if it indicated itself as suspect?"

"Not a good one?"

"No, it's something that's giving off a massive amount of energy in a relatively small size."

"Computer chip small? That'll be impossible."

"No, I'd say smaller than a loaf of bread but larger than a stick of butter."

"And what, lighter than a pound of cheese?"

"Probably. The mass readings are far from definitive. Your planet has wacky gravity."

At the audience's collective gasp, two heads snapped up.

For no discernible reason, the man had a wooden rod stuck inside the basket, which he pushed in until it disappeared. "It collapses!" came the cry from a few cynics, so the man took a thick woolen blanket from the boy standing next to him, and proceeded to stuff it all into the tiny basket. Tyler's eyes widened, and she poked the once-more-occupied Doctor in the arm. He looked up.

And saw the vendor's arm buried in the little basket, halfway past his elbow.

"Does all Greek stuff do that?"

He spoke in a low, quiet tone of voice, saying softly "We are going to walk slowly up to the stand, into the front of the crowd. No pushing, maybe a gentle 'excuse me' if you must. And we are going to follow that man. Act normal."

Directly after his calm pronouncement, the Doctor gasped loudly when the basket rotated to display the Seal of Rassilon woven into the side. If that didn't confirm his suspicions, nothing would.

"What happened to normal, mate?"

"No wonder that was reading as out of time. That's…well, my race made that."

"What, fantastical genius space weavers?"

He looked at her as if she were an idiot – which she felt – and said slowly "Bigger on the inside."

* * *

><p>"If 'switch things up' means leave me here to bloody rot instead of flying into Oncoming Storm rage and rescuing promptly, I am not enjoying it."<p>

One blonde woman in the corner of a richly furnished cell, muttering to herself. And two or three people with the bare chests of men, the legs and feet of goats (complete with cute little tails) and high-powered sonic blaster thingies, staring at her intently.

"What are you waiting for? I'm not going to burst into flames or start glowing or whatever!"

* * *

><p>This time, things were proceeding according to plan, with the two travelers slowly edging towards the front of the crowd.<p>

Tyler, after accidentally stepping on a snobby-looking man's foot, made it to the display shelf of the stall and pretended to carefully peruse the merchandise.

Tiny basket, little box, great big basket, little wooden lion, acting casually…wait. Her eyes lingered on a rectangular box made of dark wood, embellished with a golden, square design. "It can't be!"

"I left that on the TARDIS!"

The Doctor catches her eye from the far left of the crowd, where he's ended up, and mouths to her "He's almost done. Stay right there and don't let him out of your sight. We'll follow them."

She nods, almost imperceptibly. Well, she thinks imperceptibly.

And turns her attention back to the box. It must just look similar, she decides, opening the cover. But inside, the same two Greek letters are carved carefully in the same exact spot. It's the exact same box. She fingers the inscription carefully. How did it get from her bedroom to here? Or here to her bedroom, she supposes. But how?

The man quiets, and suddenly, she's pressed against that stall, breath knocked out of her. A crush of people has rushed forward, desperate to get their hands on unlimited storage in limited space. Soon, she's jostled back, box clutched tightly in her hands. She can't see a thing, and…

The people in front of her are too tall, she can't find that merchant, and she curses softly under her breath. The crowd is almost violent, and…she catches a glimpse of a beefy leg and left foot. It'll have to do for now. She starts towards it desperately.

She must have picked the right left leg, because she bumps into the Doctor. He pulls her against the wall of the alley, where the loud salesman is conducting an animated but quiet conversation with a shapeless figure.

"What's that in your hand?" the Doctor whispers. "Are you stealing now?"

"No! This is my ring box!"

"What, so you paid for it?"

"No, on my fifth birthday, way in the future, a lady that was at my party – some friend of my parents', maybe – gave me this box, with this ring inside it. This exact box, with the same inscription, and looking brand new. It's in the TARDIS!"

He looks at it closely, then opens the lid and reads the inscription. He lowers it slowly, looking slightly shocked. The inscription is sickly familiar, and he wonders just how awful today is going to get.

Theta Sigma, carved on the inside of the box. And Tyler's box. And the third box, in a larger box of his old things, last he saw it, in the storage area of his living quarters in the Citadel. On Gallifrey. A planet which, if this weren't complicated enough, no longer exists. Anywhere or anywhen.

"This is getting decidedly odd."

* * *

><p>She sighed. This was taking an exceedingly long time. "If a certain Time Lord does not show up within the next," she checked her watch "twenty-three minutes…"<p>

One of the guards jabbed the door. "Is the Tyler Rose taking command?"

"Um…no…she's just talking to herself."

"She will be silent until she takes command."

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

* * *

><p>Tyler looked at the Doctor, her eyes wide. "What?"<p>

"It's mine, this box. I got it as a present. I used it for various things over the years, eventually it was just forgotten…and it burned on a dead planet."

"Well, rather obviously not!"

"We'll figure it out later, just look, there!"

The two figures had been joined by a third, and they appeared to be finishing their conversation. The third dropped the hands of the two original forms, and said, in a voice much louder than the previous conversation "The end is foretold! The end is near!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ooh, look, a plot. Some things that I haven't mentioned yet but are of some importance to the story - Tyler is meant to be British, as most of the companions are, if you're a person who reads with accents in your head. Also, this story takes place between The Long Game and Father's Day, but a while after they dropped Adam off (I'm assuming more than a week between episodes, as I generally do, so please deal with that). Anyway, what did you think?**


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